Today over at We Are THAT Family, Kristen is holding a frugal tips carnival. And all week, I’ve been planning to participate. But as I sat down to write my post, I realized . . . I’m not actually very frugal.
Sometimes I’m cheap. Other times I’m broke. But if I’m honest with myself – and with you – I’m rarely frugal.
So today I’m going to think about how I can be frugal. Other than buying groceries at Walmart and renting movies from Redbox.
Where will I get my ideas, you ask? At Works for Me Wednesday, of course!
What’s your tip for living frugally?
I'm not good at being frugal either. :( The best I've been doing lately is deleting emails from my favorite stores immediately and just not going shopping (besides Target & Wal-Mart) in the first place. The funny thing is, I find that when I finally do go back, I'm more picky! (about prices & styles/fits) So that's probably a good thing. But that's about all I've got for ya; sorry! (I'll be checking here for more tips for me though — no guarantees to follow-through, of course, but I'll check;)
Funny. I have good intentions too. Love the honesty. :)
my parents were like the king and queen of frugality. i don’t know why it didn’t rub off on me…!
I’ve just discovered the world of coupons. You want to come see it? There are pretty colors here. haha.
no seriously, here’s the link, it’s a funny read even if you don’t like the idea of couponing! But considerit, it’s super posh!
http://writer4rent.blogspot.com/2008/12/guru-unleashed_18.html
Chris and I have been a single income family since M was born, so frugal living is just part of life for us.
I’m not a coupon girl, but limiting myself to only doing errands once a week certainly cuts down on impluse buying. (Warning: This takes patience and practice since you have to either remember what you need or wait until next week to buy it.)
Also, we rent books and videos from the library to save money. We also frequently borrow DVD’s and books our friends have bought. (We also share a lot of ours.) We exchange baby-sitting with friends and rarely buy anything when it is not on sale. And when staples we normally use are on sale I buy a lot and store them. (We currently have 25 boxes of cereal in our storage room because it was on sale for $1.00 a box. I won’t be buying cereal for the rest of the year!) We also frequent “free” events, both as a family and on date night. I will warn you that living frugally is not an easy task and I certainly didn’t embrace it when we first started, but now that I have learned how important my job as a frugal wife is I hope I rise to the occasion! Good Luck! :)
I really love your honesty, and I love this picture. so cute!
Frugality is a huge part of life around here – but it's totally counter-cultural in South Florida, which makes it even more difficult!
We unplug our appliances we're not using, and while we're waiting for the water to run hot, we save the cold water to water plants. We use half a dryer sheet per load. I go to the grocery store basically once a month, and then fill in here and there with fruits, veggies & dairy. We use coupons whenever possible, and I never, EVER pay full price for anything.
We do slip up quite a bit, but living frugally (or simply) makes the slip-ups hurt a little bit less.
Start small. Cut out one thing you can live without. Then figure out one thing you can get cheaper elsewhere.
:)
When I was a little girl, I saw that for the most part money stressed people out. So when I grew up I vowed to myself to never put things above peace of mind when it came to handling money. My thought process was, yes I have the money to buy that, but I wanted to get it on sale, and that was fun part. So yes I am a frugie… (a frugie is someone who likes to get a good deal so she can share her good deals with everyone around her)
So I started the journey seeing how much fun I could have while not missing out on any activities. I rarely miss a party or vacation, because I shop the net for hours to get the best deal possible. You can be a frugie too.
Meg Anderson
http://AmericasFunBudgetCoach.com
hi, i just found your blog thru OAMM. good post. a little easier way to get our feet wet. thanks! and my frugal tip would be for you to start searching “redbox codes” before visiting the box. there are legitimate promo codes for free rentals.
i don’t know that i’m frugal. i’m just plain cheap. obviously there’s the never-pay-full-price, use-coupons, buy-store-brands (except pb – that has to be skippy) thing, but other than that, i think i just don’t buy. i get cds from the library, i watch the movies that i have over and over, and i HATE clothes shopping. so i guess my only tip for you is to not get hooked on baseball.